Ode to Grief...

You hide in jolly hollyhocks

In eyes alight with dreams

In leisurely barefoot, beach walks

In rainbow zinnia streams

In little lass with little curl

In outdoor time for tea

To celebrate a little girl

Who just turned half-past three

In ‘my, how fast sweet baby grows’

In pangs pure love imparts

In vignettes made of mementos

To carry in our hearts

In treetop tress, first green, then red

Orange, russet, gold, then doffed

In brittle crunch beneath our tread

Where leaf-lilt echoes waft

In fading valor of the sun

In autumn-morning mist

In days, that trick us summer-spun

With nights silver-frost-kissed

In swells of history disguised

In gleaming rise of day

The essence of the Thing we prized

Snatched to dusk’s foaming fray

In what has almost disappeared

As if it never was

A Very Vexing Vaunt veneered

With breath-taking Because

Because of love, because of joy

At every turn you lurk

I sense you in the carefree boy

In poise of play and work

In gardens, grand with grin and groan

Of seed's bounteous wealth

In hands, weathered, worked to the bone 

In thankfulness for health

In pansies, ever-pleasant charm

In hope and happiness

In sweeps that ripple, rife and warm

With life and loveliness

In arms that never quite grow cold

Though Child slips from Her knee

To chase the winds of growing old

On wings of vanity

You hide in touch cut to the quick

An artisan of scars

You always hover in the thick

Of laughter’s falling stars

Ah, grief, the price of love, ah love

So worth grief's cruel test

For only love can be enough

To satisfy the rest

© Janet Martin